This month, I read a book called Skunk Works by Ben R. Rich and Leo Janos. Skunk Works is a nonfiction book about the Skunk Works company, where they design and manufacture airplanes for military use. The book follows the process of designing and testing multiple aircrafts from the view of Ben Rich, the previous owner of the Skunk Works. Some of the airplanes discussed include the F-117A Stealth Fighter, the SR-71 Blackbird, and the U-2 Spy Plane.

This book is for anyone interested in aerospace, nonfiction, or great books. This was one of the best books I have ever read, and its in-depth look into the workings of a major aircraft manufacturer is an amazing insight into how major operations function. From the logistics, the complexity of the aircraft, to the testing one of the fastest planes ever made, its details make it one of the best books ever written.

My favorite character in this book was Ben Rich. He was my favorite character because of his persistence when designing and his ingenuity when it came to aircraft. he never gave up and always worked hard to create the best final product he possibly could. For example, “The most important thing is to stay curious, be innovative, and never settle for mediocrity. This shows his desire to always accomplish a task to the best of his ability, and to “never settle for mediocrity.”

My favorite quote from the book was, “Even the way they financed the operation was highly unconventional: using secret contingency funds, they back-doored payment to Lockheed by writing personal checks to Kelly for more than a million bucks as start-up costs. The checks arrived by regular mail at his Encino home, which had to be the wildest government payout in history.” This quote explains how the government payed the Skunk Works during one of the projects. This quote is my favorite because of the absurdity of the statement. Image a million or more dollars arriving by check in the mail! It just goes to show how amazing some of the things that the people at the Skunk Works did.